Mixing deportation and criminal justice systems harms communities

Father Cameron Faller (right) and Julio Escobar of Restorative Justice Ministry, conduct a vigil for Kathryn Steinle on Monday.

Father Cameron Faller (right) and Julio Escobar of Restorative...

A beautiful young woman, her father’s arm around her shoulder, was shot dead near San Francisco’s Ferry Building last week. The rest of us are left to weep with her grieving family and carry them in our deepest prayers and thoughts.

Sadly, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and a chorus of anti-immigrant organizations with troubling histories of racial bias are exploiting this tragedy for political gain. These opportunists now seek to punish entire communities for the horrendous actions of one person. This will not make any of us safer.

We can and must do better.

Much media attention has focused on the issue of Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds or detainers — requests for local jails to detain people so ICE can pick them up for deportation. But there’s a problem: These ICE holds are unconstitutional.

In Miranda-Olivares vs. Clackamas County, a federal court in Oregon ruled in 2014 that ICE holds lack probable cause. They are not warrants. Judges do not review them. They violate the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

Over the years, immigration detainers have resulted in the wrongful detention of not only survivors of domestic violence, who’ve called police for help and victims and witnesses to crimes, but even U.S. citizens.

Moreover, community members have been subject to racial profiling.

Hence, the need for a valid warrant signed by a judge before turning someone over for deportation.

Mixing a deportation system that does not respect due process with a criminal justice system whose inequities are increasingly recognized hurts efforts in communities like mine to overcome a significant mistrust of police.

In this tragic incident, the federal government had the suspect in custody, but returned him to local custody on old charges that were later dismissed. Instead of providing the necessary warrant, ICE officials are blaming San Francisco for policies that are not only constitutional but also humane.

Some have argued that anyone with past deportations or drug-related felony convictions — like this suspect — should be deported. But most immigrants who return after deportation do so only to work and be with their families. And people with past drug-related convictions — immigrants and citizens alike — are our neighbors and loved ones. They are parents, workers, fellow congregants, volunteers — and human beings. Many have turned their lives around and become powerful forces for good. We call this redemption.

Instead of exploiting this tragedy, as Trump and ICE officials are now doing, we should seek real solutions to the gun violence and substance abuse that affect not just immigrants but every sector of our society.

Father Richard Smith, vicar of St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in San Francisco’s Mission District, holds a doctorate in ethics and social theory from the Graduate Theological Union. He is a clergy leader in San Francisco Organizing Project/Peninsula Interfaith Action.